This is a very interesting question that came to my mind recently.

If you’re selling a high-value service and you close the contract…now, in order to want to deliver FAST to the client, you stay up all day and night and get the project done in HALF the time it was expected in.

Quality is great.
Timing was great.
No problems…

Right?

Well, then why is it that the next time the client doesn’t come running with his tail between his legs to give you his business? Hmmm…that’s interesting. What the heck just happened?

This question just came to mind the other night when going to bed - could it be that by delivering something TOO fast you’re under-valuing your work and making the client think that it was “easy” work that he/she got overcharged for?

Something to think about eh?  Kind of a bit of a business mind psychology politics…

Popularity: 25% [?]

Be honest, how many times a day do you check your e-mail?

I’m preaching today, but honestly, I should listen to my own advice because I am addicted to  e-mail. However, I’ve had periods of time (when I travel), where internet is not available and my productivity shoots through the roof.

Here’s how most of us entrepreneurs and CEOs work - we have multiple windows open and one of them is surely our Outlook/Gmail/Hotmail or some other form of e-mail. To make matters worst, we have it set-up to ALERT us when there is a new mail, a small noise that we soon to respond to like little dogs do to a whistle.

E-MAIL KILLS YOUR PRODUCTIVITY…

Period - no question or argument about it. If you’re checking your e-mail more than twice a day (this includes me), you’re not being productive or efficient.

Let me give you an example…

Have you ever noticed how quickly you respond to phone calls? You might be in the middle of an important meeting, but you’ll STILL sneak in a peek to see WHO is calling and you may even actually pick it up! Especially if you’re in the middle of doing something that does not involve another person, you’re 90% likely to get interrupted by the phone and answer it.

Why?

I think it’s because of that sound, we’ve just been trained to answer.

Well, that’s the thing with e-mail now. Most of our computers make a sound or alert us. So, we’ve been trained to respond (like little dogs).

You should not spend all day checking e-mail, do NOT let it interrupt your work time. Bottom-line, think about how many of the emails you respond quickly to - how many of them are actually that urgent?

Here is some advice to DE-e-mailize yourself:

1. Turn OFF all e-mail alerts.
2. Check e-mail only twice - morning and evening.
3. Schedule blocks of time where you actually shut off e-mail completely.
4. Put an auto-reply in your e-mail that tells people your “checking schedule” and give them a phone number to call in case of sheer emergency.

Try putting those into place, one by one (I will try too). I bet you get twice as much done with half of the stress.

By the way, do the same with chat programs (unless you run a virtual company like me, then it’s critical). 

Popularity: 35% [?]

I’ve never been particularly a neat person - but sometimes I look at my desk and just think “things are out of control.”

I’ve visited other entrepreneurs or start-up CEOs and have seen pretty much the same exact thing - my guess? THIS is what Entrepreneur desks are like…

A) Messy
B) Messy
C) O So Messy…

But still, ask me to find anything and I’ll find it in 10 seconds (me brain knows where it is).

I also just bought a cool little gadget - a Flip Video Camera, so here’s my first shooting.

For the next 60 seconds, you’re a humble guest in what I call my office…

More where that came from later…

Popularity: 33% [?]

Actually this is not just for a new hire, it’ll work for anyone. on the team I haven’t studied this in some book - this is coming from experience.

5 ways a START-UP can tell if their new hire truly is the right fit or not. Remember, these are for START-UPS, big companies don’t need all of these factors. However, for a start-up, you need every team member to be a “mini-entrepreneur,” so the following qualities are CRITICAL.

1. Do they leave RIGHT when the clock hits?

My biggest sign/annoyance/pet-peeve are those who literally pack up and stare at the clock for it to hit 5 PM and are OUT the door by 5:01. This is the quickest way to get my on my bad-side. Honestly, they may be done with work - fine, but to RACE out is uncalled for and shows that they have places they’d much rather be.

For a start-up, “love for the cause, company and your work” is a big deal.

If they do it every now and then, fine. Even if they typically leave by 5:10 or so, fine. But, if they’re packing up at 4:50 and sitting at the edge of their seat - get another job.

2. Do they twiddle their thumbs or beg for work?

I consistently scan computer screens and look to see how many people are just on GTalk, Youtube or some other waste of time. Gtalk is critical for us since we have a largely virtual team, but if they’re typing for 30 minutes straight - that’s a non-business chat and it’s unproductive.

Bottom line, if they’re not hungry for work and are finding ways to avoid it - they’re not a good fit for a start-up.

3. Do they review training materials at home?

This one is BIG for me. During the first 2-3 weeks, there is tons of training, book reading, video watching, etc… I want someone that says, “can I take this home over the weekend to finish it?”

If they’re ONLY using work time to finish the training and not actually itching to become a full part of the team - bad sign.

4. Do they answer emails OFF hours (nights/weekends)

Another favorite trick of mine. Start-ups don’t have “8 hour days,” I don’t care what position, you’re on call 24/7. Not all, but I want to see some e-mails answered at 11 PM at night. I want to see some e-mails answered on Saturday.

Things need to get done and 8 hours a day is not enough to get them done.

5. Are they resourceful - figure things out without always jumping to a question…

Start-ups have limited resources (personnel wise) so it’s important that a person be self-motivated to find an answer. Of course they can talk to the team and ask questions. BUT, “asking someone” should never be the first resort. There are training materials, Google and even their colleagues. When I say “ask someone,” I’m mostly referring to the busy managers or executives in the company.

I don’t mind answering questions, actually the more I get the more serious I know the person is. But, please, show me SOMETHING that says you at least tried to research the subject before asking.

Again, these are mostly important for start-ups, some are not a big deal for a big company. But, heck, if you can apply those 5 rules to a big company too, you’re going to have an amazing team.

Just remember, it’s the “little” things that tell you the most about people, don’t ignore those, pay more attention to them. 

Popularity: 39% [?]

So the more management we get into, the more I’ve been thinking about this concept. Especially having a largly virtual team, it becomes a big issue for us to think about.

Many don’t understand the concepts - micromanaging and macromanaging, I’m also now creating my own term - rightmanaging.

Micromanaging: 

The best way to describe it is the way Wikipedia does, “management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of their employees, generally used as a derogatory term.”

This is for people who just can’t let go - many entrepreneurs/CEOs “may” start off this way, but if they plan on surviving, they won’t make it long with micromanaging.

Not only are you not productive because you’re too busy watching over EVERYTHING - this is a big morale killer for the team. It basically shouts that you don’t trust your team and also those who work for you get sick of it eventually.

Micromanaging is like sucking the life out of you, your team and your business.

Macromanaging:

Macromanaging is the FLIP evil of micromanaging, “For the most part they leave their employees with a lack of decision making, especially when the details of the job change and they need immediate assistance - Source: CrystalLinks.com. Your team will always need your guidance and structure.

Macromanagers are almost “lazy” - they completely leave their team alone and this is never a good thing - unless you have ONE HELL of a team.

Even me, with the great team I have, I do keep a close tie to what’s going on - but I don’t practice micromanagement OR macromanagement (but if I were asked which one I’m closed to, it’d be macromanagement).

Introducing…RightManaging 

Not sure if anyone else has ever introduced this term, but I came up with it in my head.

Rightmanaging is really just a good balance of micromanagement and macromanagement - it’s right in the middle. A good manager never wants to over-crowd their team, but you do want to be there to make sure things are going well.

For example/ If your team is working on a project, you don’t need to see how they are doing every single element. However, you do need to check in to see deadlines are being met. And, on those deadlines, ask for demos of what is being produced.

This will not only help you stay in touch, but it will make your entire team feel great that they are involved. I mean as a good manager, what’s really your MAIN goal…

Nope, not that employees are on time. Not even that they are all constantly working. Honestly, not even that they do it only your way.

Your main goal as a manager is to make sure the project gets done on or before deadline and is done with supreme quality!

So, knowing that - practice rightmanagement. Don’t get in everyone’s way, but make sure you’re at least there to bump into them every now and then.

Popularity: 41% [?]

So I’m sitting at a seminar this past weekend and someone I truly trust tells me, “hey you should do the kolbe…”

What the hell is a kolbe? Sounds like some Jewish dance.

He was referring to a “Kolbe Index” - it’s basically 36 questions you answer - this thing then does a FULL analysis of you and tells you what kind of person you are and what your strengths are.

Why the heck do I need to know who “I” am…

I mean who knows you better than you know yourself. Well, it’s not for that. There are 2 purposes to use it for:

1. Self-Validation

It’s nice to know that you’re not crazy and that it’s OK to be the way you are - Kolbe tells you how to work WITH who you are rather than changing yourself.

2. Hiring!

This is where I’m going to be using it the most. You can make all your potential hires go through it first and review the evaluation - it will really help you better understand what you’re getting into.

It only took me about 20 minutes, I did it while I was waiting for my flight at an airport. It’s even kind of fun to do…

I was blown away…

They were right. This thing had me PINNED! The evaluation was VERY specific, let me show you a few things…

This is the BASIC rating they gave me: I don’t like doing research (TRUE), I’m OK at following-through with things after launching them (ALSO TRUE - this is why I always have product managers), I’m GREAT at coming up with ideas and JUMPING on them (SOOO VERY TRUE) and I’m a pretty bad IMPLEMENTOR (Here, I disagree a bit). I find I’m very good at execution and implementing, but maybe I’m not?

They do warn not to argue with the results and NOT TO GET OFFENDED.

Now, that is general stuff right? Well, here, let’s get into the details…

This is just ONE of many examples where I got freaked out. It was DEAD on, I SERIOUSLY do work better LAST minute, I HATE conforming and even more, I hate sticking to scripts - I’m a “winger” - I like winging things.

Bottom line, this Kolbe Index was great. Once you take the 36 questions you can buy all sorts of evaluations, career, personal relationships and many more. For hiring, I’m going to use the main Kolbe Index and the “Career MO.” The main Kolbe Index is only $50 and the Careero MO was like $30.

So, for a total of $80, I validated myself - feel good and can stop trying to change myself!

Visit http://www.Kolbe.com

Popularity: 63% [?]

Businessweek announce the best performing top 5 companies in the world - but the only competitors have to be S&P 500 companies.

Nope, last year’s #1 company, Google did not make the list, it was actually #34!

Here are the 2008 winners:

1. Coach - Yeah, seriously they make handbags.

* They were awarded for being the best at adapting to the shifting economy. Basically people are poorer, so they released cheaper handbags.

2. Gilead Sciences - A biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes therapies for viral diseases, infectious diseases and cancer.

* They are being rewarded for innovating in medications for HIV patients. They’ve made a treatment that allows just ONE pill a day, rather than 20 that many patients have to take.

3. Allegheny Technologies - One of the largest and most diversified specialty metals producers in the world with revenues of $5.5 billion during 2007.

4. Verizon Communications - We all know Verizon, phone, cell phone and high speed interenet.

5. Questar - Questar Corporation is a natural gas-focused energy company.

Too bad for our friends at Apple, they were in at #6 - I guess if they had partnered with Verizon rather than AT&T, maybe they could have made the top 5?

So there you go enterprising CEOs - a list of companies to aspire to.

Popularity: 43% [?]

I actually have not RECENTLY met Mr. Buffet, it has been about 3 years, I met him while still in college through a program. A few of us were hand chosen to fly out to Omaha and meet him.

He does a program every month where some students come to spend a day with him.

Overall the day was great, we started the morning with a round table session with him where we discussed the U.S. Economy and how he chooses his investments. By the way, he straight out says that the U.S. is in deep trouble with China - we need to stop borrowing money from them.

He was a bit amusing - he has that “old man” sense of humor, but it was refreshing.

For example, he owns about 8% of Coca-Cola so he INSISTED that we all at least hold one drink in our hands and open it. He said, for every 1 of 12 opened, he made money. It was funny out of his mouth.

A few interesting points though…

1. He did not seem to want to talk about his family/kids.
2. He drives an OLD beat-up car.
3. Still lives in his old house
4. Office is NOT impressive and he actually leases most of it out.
5. Most people in Omaha are NOT fans of him - they think he’s cheap too…

Why I was not only disappointed, but even OFFENDED…

First of all, we were all college students paying our own way (and that was hard enough). But, would you believe that for the 30 of us, we all had to PRE-pay our lunch, it was $8 a person. That is a total of $240 that he could not even cover for us?

We ate at his “favorite” restaurant and it sucked - the chicken was dry, pink and felt like it was cooked the night before.

The entire time he was showing us his wallet with over $3,000 in cash in there and a black card, yet he could not even pay our $8 lunch?

The man is a genius, but he is seriously too cheap for his own good, but it was an honor meeting him - definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Popularity: 26% [?]

So, in an effort to continue doing my “CEO” reviews of different airlines, today I’ll review United Airlines. Just in case you’re interested, I’ve reviewed the following airlines so far:

Qatar Airways
Northwest Airlines

For United, I actually booked through US Airways (where I have a ton of miles) and again, was lucky to get the First Class upgrade for free. However, the flight was being operated by United Airlines.

The First Class here was ‘OK’ - I don’t have anything too good or too bad. The seats are NOT leather and are a bit smaller than even the Northwest ones were. My biggest 2 complaints here would be:

1. Seats not wide enough
2. No food (we were on a red-eye so it didn’t matter as much)

However, I was impressed with…

1. 100% on-time (down to the minute)
2. Friendly staff and willing to help
3. Check-in process - NICE, got to skip ALL lines (including security).

Overall, not bad - going across the country, the prices are about 100% more, sometimes 200% more. Given that, not sure if a 5 hour flight is worth paying THAT much for, but if it’s free - no big deal!

Popularity: 23% [?]

Part 6 of CEOs Dinner

Another great stat from last Thursday night’s dinner, this again from the same angel investor. He revealed something that I was shocked by!

The Inc 500 is a list that is published every year of the 500 fastest growing small businesses in the country (they do an Inc 5000) as well.

This investor revealed that over 85% of the companies on this list have never taken money from an outside investor! 85%!

So, think again if you want to raise money, is it really a good idea?

Popularity: 45% [?]